Memory
Lane (2012/Wild Eye/MVD DVD)/Oz
Cult Classics Double Feature: The Initiation
(1987)/The Dreaming
(1988/Umbrella PAL Region Free Import DVD Set)
PLEASE
NOTE: The Oz Import DVD set is now only available
from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, can only
play on DVD players that can handle the PAL DVD and can be ordered
from the link below.
Memory
Lane
Picture:
B- Sound: C Extras: B Film: C-
Shawn
Holmes' Memory Lane is an interesting premise but ultimately
is ruined by bad filmmaking and extremely amateurish acting. It
seems that the lot of the film was used with only camera
ineffectively and some of the more dramatic moments don't work. Many
may give it a chance based on its unique cover art and intriguing
storyline but will ultimately end up disappointed. The film stars
Michael Guy Allen, Meg Braden, and Julian Curi.
Nick
Boxer has just returned from war and things are starting to get back
to normal. He's back with his old friends, His old job, and a new
girl whom he met about to leap to her death from an abandoned bridge.
Oh, that old girl in distress chestnut...
Of
course he falls in love with her (rather quickly I may add) and right
as he goes to ask her hand in marriage, he finds her lying dead in
the bathtub with her wrists slit and stupidly (isn't it always
stupid) attempts suicide, though finds that once his heart is stopped
that he can see her, hear her, and make love to her. He can relive
memories of her. And he can pay closer attention.
Luckily
one of Nick's friends knows CPR and rushes into the room to
resuscitate Nick in time - zapping him back to reality. Nick relives
a vivid memory with Kayla and discovers that she didn't kill herself.
Nick, somehow becomes a scientific genius and builds a device that
is both electric chair and defibrillator. A machine with the ability
to stop his heart and start it. A machine that will take him to
memory lane and help him uncover all of the mystery that is Kayla M
and who her killer truly is.
Nothing
too fancy in the way of presentation with the film in standard
definition with a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The audio mix here
is surprisingly weak but the image looks about right for DVD,
considering the filmmaking.
There
are a decent amount of extras including a Commentary, Deleted Scenes,
Short Film, Promotional Videos, Screen Tests, and Trailers.
OZ
Cult Classics: Double Feature
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D
Two
interesting horror films available from Umbrella Releasing in one
nice package. While these films aren't game changers, they do vary
in style from American Horror Films, which is always fun.
Initiation
Film:
C+
Initiation
is 1987 Australian drama film directed by Michael Pearce that takes
place in South America, which looks great on film and adds to the
foreign creepiness of it all.
Life
is about to get very interesting for estranged teenager Danny (Rodney
Harvey, My Own Private Idaho) who visits his father on an
isolated farm in Australia. Nat Molloy (Bruno Lawrence, The Quiet
Earth) lives happily with his girlfriend and her daughter but
ongoing struggles with the farm necessitate supplemental income. So
Nat earns money on the side smuggling marijuana for a drug
connection. When Danny joins his father on one fateful flight, their
two-seater plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, forcing father and
son to struggle against the elements in order to survive. Yes, it
gets one of those fight for survival films, not unlike Alive
just with a different location obviously. But it ends up not being
as bad as it could have been.
An
interesting supporting cast including the wonderful Miranda Otto
(Lord of the Rings) and Tony Barry (Mystery Road).
The
Dreaming
Film:
C+
The
Dreaming is a 1988 Australian horror film directed by Mario
Andreacchio that many compare to The Last Wave but reminded me
a lot of The Orphanage. It plays up on the creepy ghostly
psychological angle with a female lead that usually sets the mood for
some good scares.
When
Doctor Cathy Thornton (A Country Practice) treats an ailing
indigenous girl in a hospital emergency room nothing prepares her for
the horrors that lie ahead. In the wake of the girl's death, Cathy's
life begins to unravel as she is haunted by bad dreams and waking
visions, driven by severe and catastrophic events in aboriginal
history. Tormented by ghosts of the spiritual landscape, Cathy
unwittingly finds herself involved in a 200-year-old murder mystery.
The
film also stars Garry Sweet and Arthur Dignam.
The
presentations here are nothing to write home about but acceptable
considering the time that the films were made and that this is the
DVD format we are talking about here. Both films are presented in
full frame standard definition with a lossy 2.0 English Dolby Digital
track, but they are passable.
No
extras.
To
order the
Oz
Umbrella import DVD set, go to this link for it and much more:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films